


Mutliplex Maze

by aba_daba_do



Category: Gravity Falls, Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Completed, Crossover, Gen, I'm still figuring out how to format forgive me!, stays in canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-23 22:28:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9683312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aba_daba_do/pseuds/aba_daba_do
Summary: Dipper ends up getting kidnapped by groblin-puppets, unwilling to admit that he is deeply afraid of puppets. Meanwhile, Mabel must go on a quest to save him. Except she's way more interested in the dreamy King Hunky Bubbles, leader of the Groblins. (Based on a rejected episode of Gravity Falls, taking place in season 1)





	1. Chapter 1

The light of the television screen bounced off of Mabel's brown eyes as she snuggled into the old and worn chair. She reached for a cup of her special "Mabel Juice," which was placed on top of the old VHS tape of Multiplex Maze, an inappropriately used coaster, considering it was a rental. The man on the screen danced around, his white, bushy hair flopping in the air while he cocked one pointy eyebrow at the camera. The glitter off of his lustrous cape winked against the drab stones of the groblin castle.   
She clutched her knees up to her chest and blushed. "King Hunky Bubbles is so... dreamy. Look at his cool hair!"   
"Uhg," Dipper rolled his eyes. He was perched on the back of the chair, feet dangling down beside her. "Can we please watch anything else?"   
She drew a long sip out of her vibrant pink juice, plastic dinosaurs rattling inside, and slammed the glass back down. "No way. I'm watching it. It's so unfair! We always watch the boring movies that you like. This time we are watching what I want."   
"Ghost Harassers is not a boring movie. It's got ghosts, explosions," he began to count each item on his fingers, "really big vacuums, oh- and it's not stupid." He gestured at the TV screen, "I mean, look at this. Those effects are so dumb, it doesn't even look real."   
Flopping her head into the back of the chair Mabel groaned. "They're not effects, they're puppets. And besides," she looked at the screen enthusiastically, as one feathery pink puppet popped its head off and began to juggle it. "They're adorable," she swooned.   
Dipper shuddered and leapt off the chair in a panic. "No! There is nothing cute about their lifeless eyes or their creepy little velvety hands." He caught his breath and cleared his throat, "I mean, it all looks really stupid."   
Mabel slammed her hands down on the arm rests of the chair and leaned over. Cheeks red and hot she yelled, "Dipper, I really, really wish that all the little groblins in this movie would come and take you away so I could actually watch it without any of your annoying, dumb complaints!"   
She felt a slight rumble from behind the chair as she glared at Dipper venomously.   
Her brother scoffed and crossed his arms. He looked away, trying to hide the growing redness of his cheeks. "Yeah, sure Mabel. Because this is just like the movie and all the groblins are going to—Ahh!" As he spoke, tiny gray hands and bodies began to pop out from within the living room of the Mystery Shack. A little groblin crawled its way out from underneath the sofa, while two burst out from the hollowed out eye sockets of the T-Rex head used as a side table. Wrinkled and velvety bodies swung from the rafters and swarmed over the television. The tufts of hair on their heads stuck up in different directions and their mouths were pulled into almost constant frowns with sharp teeth poking out.  
Mabel pulled her feet up onto the chair to avoid the prying hands of her unwanted guests. She pushed a groblin off the back of the chair and on to the floor with a solid thud. "They're not as cute up close!" She plucked a groblin off the ground, holing it out as it kicked and squirmed. Her fingers drummed against it. "Ooh but they're so soft."  
Beside her, Dipper knocked groblins off to the side as they tried to grip on to the back of his vest and on to his ankles. He swung a punch, tossing a groblin back into the air. Another groblin leapt onto his arm, pinning it to his side. "Uhh, Mabel?" he said, a quiver in his voice. Backing into the wall, Dipper watched on in horror as the groblins dragged him down by his wrists and the collar of his shirt. Their unblinking eyes stared at him, causing him to tremble and fall to his knees.  
Finally overcoming him, the groblins snickered and pulled Dipper out of the living room and out the front door, his finger nails scratching at the old wood. "Mabel! Help!" he said, giving one more desperate claw at the ground before the door slammed in his face.  
Mabel stood alone atop the chair cushion caught mid-pose as the rest of the groblins sneaked away. Her arms flopped to her sides as she stared at the door. So the groblins actually took her brother away... "Wow," she shrugged before dropping back into her seat. "Now I finally get to watch this movie!" She grinned and stared again at the screen. Finally, no more interruptions. "Dipper will be fine. This is what he gets for being a butt-head. After all, it's just a bunch of puppets."  
Just as she settled back into the chair, a shimmering light flashed in the doorway. Then, leaning against the door frame, was a tall man in a sequined low cut shirt that sent a dark purple cast across the torn wallpaper. His hair was very spiky, his eyeshadow very contoured, and his pants—very leather. Mabel felt her heart skip and leap in her chest. Her brown eyes widened at the sight and she could barely suppress her grin.  
It was the Groblin King from the movie, in all his twinkly-ness.  
"King Hunky Bubbles!" She leapt off the chair and reached out for one of his very leather legs, fingers itching to get closer. "You're real! And you're so shiny. Are you here to take me away on a grand adventure of peril and romance?"  
King Hunky Bubbles gave his hair a dramatic shake and stared off at something in the distance. "My dear, I am here because you wished the groblins would take your brother away and now they have—and what are you doing?" He looked down only to find the young girl with her hands clutched around his arm, rubbing at the sequins of his shirt.  
"You're like a melodramatic art supply store, but with legs," Mabel whispered.  
King Hunky Bubbles gave her a shake, but Mabel refused to let go, only holding on tighter. The strange visitor sighed and used his free hand to conjure up a glass bubble in his hand for Mabel to look into.  
Releasing her grip she took a step forward to look at it, her mouth like a little o. "Ooh."  
Inside she could see the image of a large stone castle surrounded by green mazes and small huts. The sun shone in a hazy brown fog. "I have taken your brother to my castle, if you wish to see him again you must defeat my maze. If you don't you..."  
"Wait!" Mabel shouted.  
"What?"  
"Are you telling me you live in this castle?"  
"Yes."  
"Like all alone. No one else. No girlfriend or quirky roommate or anything?"  
"Yes?" King Hunky Bubbles said again, more confused.  
"Then let's do it!"  
"Are you even interested in anything that I am going to do to your brother? You don't want to hear my master plan?" he pleaded.  
Mabel shrugged, "I mean, not really. But your voice sounds like how kittens feel. So just go on and keep talking. I'm listening."  
King Hunky Bubbles groaned and let his mystical bubble pop in the air. "To sum it up. You have thirteen hours to figure out my maze or I will turn your brother into one of my groblins. Got it?"  
"And that means I get to hang out with you... in your castle... no one else around. Just you and me and all your sequins."  
"Well, actually," the Groblin King began before Mabel cut him off.  
"I didn't hear a no!"  
Mabel bounded towards the front door, prepared to knock down anything in her path. When she swung open the door, the back porch of the Mystery Shack was not there—like it usually was. Instead a vast land of sand and vine covered maze walls were spread out before her, endless and mesmerizing. It was almost like a painting, or maybe a really bad green screen. This world was certainly not her own. "Huh?" Mabel said as she spun around to ask King Hunky Bubbles one more question about where to even begin her quest. But when she looked, he was already gone, a small pile of glitter left in his place.  
She braced herself towards the front door and placed her hands on the sides of her puffy white sweater with brown detailing down the front. "Grunkle Stan," she yelled. "I'm going off on an adventure to find that sparkle-sparkle man who's too old for me!" Taking her first step out the door, she spun around one more time before her foot hit the dirt floor. "Oh and I'm gonna go save Dipper too. Maybe. Okay, bye!"  
The door slammed shut behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

The groblins dropped Dipper onto the hard stone floor with a thud. All the groblins around him snickered with a high pitched voices that echoed across the barren walls. Standing up, he brushed the dirt off of his shorts and knees and looked around the groblin castle. Everything felt cold and made goosebumps rise up on his arms. The old castle smelt like dirt and left a bitter and dry taste in his mouth.  
He felt a tiny velvet hand slip against the back of his head. As he spun around, a groblin with toxic green feathers for hair swiped his hat and began to look around in it, then dropping the far too big hat on its small head. The other groblins snickered at it, and began to fight over the pine-tree hat for themselves.  
"Hey, give that back." Snatching the hat back, Dipper clutched it close to his chest. All the little groblin eyes were watching him, unmoving and unblinking. Their mouths moved like human hands clenched into fists. He felt his breath start to fall short in his lungs, coming in tight wheezes.  
He was slowly becoming more aware of their presence. The way something seemed to tug on their strings, even though nothing was there. The movements that were almost human, but not quite. For a moment he could feel his own skeleton under his skin, jerking him around like a living sock-puppet.  
A bright light flashed out of the corner of his eye as King Hunky Bubbles from the movie came into view. Dipper put the hat on his head and turned to face the Groblin King, stumbling over his own feet and into the fabric fingers of his groblin captors. The groblins were reverent of the king, stepping out of his way, but also hollering and jumping around at the sight of his arrival.  
"What do you want from me, man? Why did you bring me here?" he demanded, trying to hide the nervous crack in his voice.  
The Groblin King dropped into his stone throne, kicking his feet up. "Nothing really."  
"Then why did your," Dipper shuddered upon looking at them, "puppets bring me here?"  
"Because, your sister asked that my groblins take you away. So they did."  
"So you just listen to whatever Mabel says," Dipper said. "Last night she tried to convince me that creating shareable gum would be a good idea. No one should take Mabel too seriously."  
King Hunky Bubbles shrugged, "When I hear someone call for me, I come."  
"Can't you just let me go?"  
The Groblin King scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Must I explain it in a catchy song? Perhaps a magic dance?" He clapped his hands together as a synthesized tune grew louder and multicolored lights flashed against the drab walls. The groblins start to dance or play instruments that seemingly came out of nowhere.  
Dipper shook his head, "No... that's okay."  
King Hunky Bubbles sighed, and waved his hand to call off the oncoming musical number. The groblins sighed and began to disassemble disco balls and microphones. One of them hung limply from a suspension wire, looking rather disappointed.  
"You're here with me until Mabel comes to save you," the King continued. "If she never comes, then you will become one of my groblins forever."  
"Wait! What?" Dipper looked around into the high pools of groblins around him. Could he actually become one of those? Was he truly stuck there with them? "Are you serious? You can't keep me here forever!"  
"Forever isn't too long. What, are you frightened, boy?"  
"Pfft," Dipper folded his arms across his chest and shrugged off King Hunky Bubble's remark. "I'm not scared. Puppets are just toys. They're not scary."  
One of the groblins lunged itself at Dipper, rearing its dead eyes and crinkled smile at him. With a scream Dipper tumbled back onto the cold ground, the Groblin King looming over him. There was a tremble that rattled in his fingers and then traveled up his arms and into his ribs.  
King Hunky Bubbles laughed, a deep and low chuckle that resonated through the room. "When you cower before us, we become frightening. As long as you are afraid, you will not be able to stop me."  
"Mabel will come," Dipper called at the Groblin King. "Just you wait."  
Chuckling, King Hunky Bubbles held out one of his magic bubbles for Dipper to look into. Inside he could see the image of his sister, wandering around a vast series of towering walls with the sun beating down on top of her. "No one can defeat my maze. You and your sister will be lost forever."

Mabel trudged through the maze, her white socks turning brown with dirt. "Wow, this is a really big maze. Is there a word for that? Like a puzzle? Web? I'll think of it." She stopped in her tracks, looking up at the walls around her. They were just somehow tall enough to block her view of the rest of the maze. She was starting to feel trapped inside, unsure of which way to go. At the rate she was moving, she would never find the castle and King Hunky Bubbles... or Dipper.  
She tapped a thoughtful finger against her bottom lip. "If only there was someone who could help me."  
The sound of a low grumble caught her attention. Curiously she followed it down one of the long corridors of the maze, stumbling upon a dwarf parting the long and browning grass. "Ha! Found some," the creature said, reaching into the grass and pulling out a small gold coin.  
He held it in the air and admired it. "Buried treasure." The dwarf's voice was low and gravely, somewhat familiar to her. In fact, everything about the strange creature seemed familiar to her.  
The black vest it wore was patched and tattered in different places, covering up the white shirt and red string tie beneath. Even in comparison to the other puppets it looked old and withered with big ears, a square jaw, and a big orange nose. It reached up and readjusted the velvet red fez on top of its gray head before pocketing the gold piece.  
Mabel stepped forward into the creature's view. "Grunkle Stan? What are you doing here?" she asked confused.  
"Huh?" the dwarf said turning around, grinding its square jaw at the sight of her. It was definitely not Grunkle Stan, but still too eerily similar. "It's Staggle!"  
"Yeah sure, Stan-ggle. So what are you doing?"  
The dwarf huffed and walked away from Mabel, returning to sorting through the grass. "Looking for gold. You gotta have gold, ya' know? It's valuable for the oncoming apocalypse."  
Mabel shook her head, "Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about." She shifted closer to Staggle, clasping her hands together and rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "But," she said in a sing-song voice. "I bet you know this maze better than anyone."  
"Yeah, so?"  
"Well, here's a funny story." She let a huge, braces-covered smile light up her face. "I am on a quest to find King Hunky Bubbles' castle, win his heart, and root through his amazing closet. I also have to save Dipper, but that's not a big deal. And I'm kind of lost. So if you could show me how to get through the maze; that would be super cool." Leaning forward, she nudged Staggle in the side with her elbow. "Huh? How fun does that sound?"  
"No," Staggle said.  
Her arm drooped to her side. "Aww. Why?"  
"Because I don't care, kid. Your problems are your problems. And I don't like that Groblin King guy. All those colors and sparkles he wears gives me a headache."  
Blinking her big brown eyes, Mabel frowned as cutely as she possibly could. Her girlish charm and incomparable cuteness would certainly be enough to win Staggle over. "Are you sure?"  
"Yup," he added, disinterested. Mabel's frown twisted into a grimace. Now even her cuteness was failing her.  
Out of ideas, she plopped onto the ground with a sigh and crossed her arms. Staggle paid no mind to her as he continued to root through the tall grass and mounds of fresh dirt. Mabel watched as he reached down and grabbed another hunk of gold off the ground and stuffed it into his pocket.  
She felt a lightbulb light up somewhere in her head.  
"You know," Mabel said with a mischevious grin, trying to contain her giggling, "I bet King Hunky Bubbles has lots of gold in his castle. And if you help me get there, maybe I could help you get some?"  
Staggle's eyes lit up as he jerked around to face Mabel. "You really think he has gold?"  
"He's got to pay for those flashy outfits somehow," she said with a shrug.  
Staggle turned away from her in order to converse with himself in a moment of not-quite privacy. "I really don't care about this little girl's problems. Ugh, but she'll help me steal some gold. But man is she weird. But she'll probably fall into the Hole of Noxious Funk all on her own." With a groan, Staggle spun back around to face Mabel—who was wide-eyed with anticipation. "You know what, kid, you got a deal. I'll take you to the Groblin King's castle, but as soon as we get there you're helping me steal some of that gold. Got it?"  
"Right-o!" Mabel exclaimed as she leapt to her feet. Marching over to Staggle she surveyed the landscape before her, still vast and endless with the spires of the castle piecing the sky overhead. She began to make her way through the maze again, occasionally looking over her shoulder at her new guide. "This is going to be so awesome. I know lots of travelling songs! Are you more of a camp-counselor sing-along type or a pop-tastic top 40's hits?"  
Staggle groaned and dropped his face into his hands, fez tilting off of his head. "Oh what have I done?"  
"Hmm, I don't know that song. You know what? I'll just start singing and you can join in whenever you're ready."


	3. Chapter 3

"Take me to the castle tonight," Mabel sang with a loud and booming voice. She hopped over a small tuft of dead grass and struck a dramatic pose, pretending to hold a microphone in one hand. "I don't wanna leave this maze till I see that King!" She sucked in a deep and exhausted breath, before grinning at Staggle. She let the breath out in one big huff. "And that was my super awesome remix! Wanna hear another one?"  
Staggle groaned in protest, taking another turn through the maze. "Can you please do anything else?"  
"I can make fart noises with my mouth! See?" Sticking out her tongue and puffing out her cheeks, Mabel proceeded to make multiple fart noises until her face turned red.  
"That's even worse."  
Continuing to walk through the tall, moss covered walls without paying much attention, she found herself at a dead end. She let out one more drawn-out fart noise before approaching the wall. "Weird," she said, but as she turned around the pathway behind her and Staggle had magically disappeared. "Okay, now this is getting way too confusing. How are we supposed to get out of here? We're trapped."  
"Don't worry," Staggle said. "Dead ends are just the universe's way of telling you to break down some walls and destroy the government's property. Lemme see if I can find anything to smash them with." Staggle walked away, eyes trained on the grass, never picking up anything larger than a small hunk of gold.  
With a sigh Mabel looked around too, unsure of her companion's plan. "Hey, we know the way through the maze," a familiar voice said. Looking up from the ground, Mabel came face to face with... two doors? That seemed a bit off, two doors in the middle of a maze. Fingers itching around the grappling hook, permanently tucked within the waist band of her skirt and under the hem of her sweater.  
One was blue and the other red, but the peculiar part was that both doors had faces that lingered over shields of the same color nailed into the wood. The faces were oval shaped with small eyes, gopher-like teeth, and baseball caps on their bodiless heads. The blue door spoke first, in a low and mouthy voice. "What's up, dude?"  
She let herself relax, drawing her hand away from the grappling hook. "Woah," Mabel said as she reached out for the blue door's face. Everything in this maze felt very familiar to her, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. She took its cheeks in each hand and rubbed, mushing the skin up into its eyes. "A talking door! Do you tell knock-knock jokes?"  
The red door laughed. "You bet I do! Okay, okay, here goes." The red door cleared its throat, despite not having one. "Knock-knock."  
"Who's there?"  
"Door."  
"Door who?"  
The door's eyes went blank as its jaw dropped. "Aww dude, I forgot."  
Mabel laughed, "Oh that's okay. So what are you guys doing out here in the middle of a maze?"  
"Ooh!" exclaimed the blue door. "So we stand here and tell people, like, really cool riddles. And if they get it right we'll help them get through the maze."  
"Don't listen to 'em," Staggle grumbled, peering over his shoulder at her. "These guys are idiots. I'll take you through the maze the normal way."  
"Don't be so mean, Strangle," she chided.  
"It's Staggle."  
Mabel grinned and looked at the set of doors. "I would love to hear your riddle. Hit me with your best shot." She gestured openly, signaling the doors to begin.  
The blue door was the one to begin, "One of us leads to the Groblin King's castle, while the other one leads to certain doom. But here's the catch, one of us always tells the truth..."  
"And one of us always lies," the red door finished.  
Mabel thought to herself for a moment, watching as Staggle gave a loud and angry groan. The riddle solving was always Dipper's thing. But Dipper wasn't there. She was going to have to do this the Mabel way. Instead of going for the obvious answer of picking the right door, she would have to go for the silly one.  
"Okay, I get what you're saying. But both of you just explained the rules to me, so doesn't that mean you're both telling the truth? And besides, lying isn't nice. The nice thing to do would be to help me, after all I'm on a quest to save my brother."  
"Huh, I never thought about it like that," the red door stated.  
"I need to rethink my whole life, dude," the blue door replied.  
"You know what," the red door laughed, "I'll just let you through." Both doors swung open towards her, both off their entrances down paths that both seemed pretty good—with long and narrow pathways surrounded by soft green moss and dripping vines. Mabel approached the doors, not knowing which would lead to certain doom and which would help her. With each hesitant step she tried to peer into the emptiness.  
"How do I know which door is the right one," Mabel asked.  
The blue and red door replied in unison, "That's the thing. We don't know."  
Staggle rolled his eyes and grabbed Mabel by the wrist, attempting to drag her alongside him. "See? Don't trust these guys, they're even dumber than they look. It's safer to go the old fashioned way."  
Mabel kept her feet firmly planted on the ground, jerking her arm away from Staggle. "I'm running out of time," she insisted. "Besides, we're going to do this the Mabel way. And the Mabel way is to trust people, even door-people." She put one finger to her mouth and tapped it against her lip. "But which door to pick..."  
"Pick me," said the blue door. "I have like... really cool hinges that swing open and closed, a lock, you know... door stuff."  
"No, pick me," the red door persuaded. "Because... actually I don't know why. Cant-can't really one up that one. Yeah, just go ahead and pick him."  
Mabel took a step into the doorframe leaning over the dust-bowl ground and moss piles. She shrugged it off and grinned, "What am I worried about? This will be a piece of cake!"  
Taking another step forward into the doorway, she felt the ground crinkle beneath her feet before becoming steady again. Mabel gave a sigh of relief and hopped with ease into the adjacent pathway. "Haha. See? Nothing to—" As if standing on a thin piece of paper, Mabel felt the ground rip out beneath her feet. Falling, she could barely see the clouds of brown dust and clumps of dirt tumbling beside her into a dark and musty hole.  
Staggle's voice echoed down the cavern in a panic, "Kid!"  
Instinctively, she reached to the waist band of her skirt and pried the grappling hook from her side. Finger around the trigger, she held it up over her head and let the claw and rope fly into the last remaining shards of light. Holding her breath anxiously, Mabel felt herself fall and fall until snap. As the grappling hook caught hold of something she felt a sharp and quick pull in her shoulder.  
Blowing out a sigh of relief, her finger loosened against the trigger, allowing it to pull her up through the pit. Looking down, Mabel's vision began to adjust to the blackness. For a moment, she could have sworn the entire hole was line with... feet? Slowly reeling her way up, one of the feet waggled a pair of gray clay-caked toes at her. Mabel arched one eyebrow at it, but waved back politely anyway. Another foot, braced itself up against her back and gave her a helpful push upwards before waving one big toe with bright red nail polish.  
"Thank you," Mabel yelled back. "And I love that color, it looks so good on you."  
The grappling hook neared the end of its line as Mabel pulled herself up and out of the pit. The claw of her grappling hook remained stuck to the top of one of the maze's many walls, lingering beside her.  
She brushed the dirt off of her sweater just as Staggle rushed up to her. "Kid, are you alright?"  
With a grin, she nudged Staggle with her elbow. "Aww. You actually do care about me, you old grumpy-wumpus."  
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I'd feel slightly bad if you died, okay?"  
"I like you too, Stiggle."  
With a grunt, Staggle tried to ignore her sentiments and walked over to the other door. "So I guess this is the one then, huh?"  
"Actually," Mabel smirked at her grappling hook. The castle was almost in sight now. And she was going to make it there if it was the last thing she ever did. "I think I've thought of a faster way through the maze."

A thin film of brown dust covered his hair and fingers. Dipper picked up another piece of a shattered brick in his hands, trying to ignore the sting of his skinned elbows. "Back off," he yelled. "I'm warning you."  
The groblins were ganging up on him again. Soon after King Hunky Bubbles left the throne room, the puppets had begun to see Dipper as their play-thing. They would carry him off and play a rather uncomfortable game off keep-away with him, or hang him upside down until everything fell out of his pockets. They even began to tease him by asking which shade of gray fabric suited him best. Every time he tried to escape the groblins would tackle him to the ground, staring at him with their empty eyes.  
"Do you really think a brick will be enough to protect you from my groblins," King Hunky Bubbles said, promenading down the spiral stair case, a dramatic black cape that connected onto the most massive shoulder pads Dipper had ever seen flew behind him. His snake skin boots clacked against the cold stone as he walked.  
"Did you... change?" Dipper asked, lowering the brick but not letting it slip from his fingers.  
"Of course I did. A true gentlemen keeps himself fashionable at all times." He gave Dipper an up and down glance, red eye shadow arching over his eyes. "You never change your clothing, do you?"  
Dipper sneered and raised the brick higher again. "Why did you come back?"  
"To check on you, boy. Tell me, have you felt yourself swell up with stuffing yet? Has your skin been replaced with fleece?"  
One of the groblins forcefully grabbed his hand and began to run its velvety fingers up his arm. "He is starting to feel a bit softer," it said in a croaking high-pitched voice.  
Another groblin latched onto his shoulder and turn his head to face it. "And those scared eyes are starting to look emptier."  
A scream tore from Dipper's throat as he trashed, trying to get the creatures away from him. The brick slipped from his hand and shattered into multiple pieces on the ground. "Leave me alone!" More and more of the groblins began to jump onto his back causing him to fall to his knees.  
"Now, now," the Groblin King said. "Let's not get carried away." He snapped his fingers and the groblins retreated away into corners and up against the walls.  
Dipper clutched one hand against his chest, gulping for desperate breaths of hair. "Mabel," he gasped again. "Mabel is coming. She'll stop you."  
The King frowned and paced about the room. "Hmm, unfortunately, you're right. She has somehow made it through the majority of the maze in one piece. However," a grin spread across his mouth as he approached Dipper. "I have one more trick, one that I am sure will distract your sister permanently."  
Dipper looked up at the Groblin King, grinding his teeth and clenching his fist. "Mabel can be easily distracted, but she knows when things are serious. Whatever horrible thing you are going to do to her will not keep her from finding me."  
"Horrible thing? Nonsense." Touching his index finger to his thumb, King Hunky Bubbles blew into the circle made by his fingers, a delicate magic bubble extending from it. It floated through the air, showing faint images of a ballroom, engulfed with puffy gowns and romantic masks. "I am going to make her dreams come true. She will completely forget about you by the time I am through with her."  
Dipper felt around the ground for the remaining shards of his brick. "You monster," he yelled, reeling back his arm and releasing the chunks of brick. The pieces clattered on the ground, rattling around in a dust cloud.  
The King was gone again, leaving Dipper alone with all the groblins, and the bubble floating up into the air and out one of the open windows high above the staircase. The groblins cackled, easing their way towards him.  
Dipper looked helplessly at the open window. So this was it. Mabel was going to be trapped by King Hunky Bubbles in a crazy fantasy, while Dipper was going to become one of the puppets he feared so much. What was he supposed to do? His eyes welled up with tears and his cheeks felt hot.  
The puppets encircled him, laughing and snorting with glee at all they could do to him.  
“Haha! Look at him cowering."  
"Yeah! Better cry while you can!"  
"You and you sister are here forever, so you'd better get used to it."  
Dipper sniffled, and glowered at the puppets. Unsteadily he rose to his feet. Balling his hands into fists, he glowered at the groblins. Setting his feet into the ground, Dipper raised one fist into the air. "You can mess with me as much as you like. But now you've messed with Mabel." And he brought it down with all the force he could manage on the nearest groblin.


	4. Chapter 4

Her whole body titled as she swung from wall to wall, ignoring the pattern of the maze entirely. The wind whipped her hair into her eyes and mouth, blurring her vision in a kaleidoscope of brown. Staggle screamed beside her as she dug her fingers further into his vest. She shook the hair from her face, seeing the edge of the wall come in view. As the cord of her grappling hook came to the end of its arc, she held out her feet, feeling the hard exterior of the wall press into her shoes.  
Using all her stamina and strength, Mabel walked her way up the edge of the wall. With her spare hand she helped Staggle up on to the thin ledge of the wall. Then pulling herself up on the wall, she sat on the edge and took a deep breath. The grappling hook felt sweaty against the palm of her hand as she steadied herself.  
"That was amazing," she said, happy for a quick moment of rest. "Like some sort of grappling hook swinging spider."  
Grunting, Staggle sat down beside her, adjusting his fez. "That was awful. Don't ever make me do that again."  
"Aww come on, Sta-giggles. It was fun. Flying through the air, the wind in your hair..."  
"That one time you fell and landed on my face."  
"Pfft," Mabel shrugged it off. "It was just once. Besides, you were all soft and made of stuffing." Rising to her feet Mabel straightened her back and pulling at Staggle's arm. "Now let's go. It's right there."  
"No way," Staggle grumbled. "I need a break, kid. That's a little too much excitement for me."  
Mabel looked out at the edge of the maze, were the brown dirt began to meet the lush green grass and gray boulders. The castle was within her reach, baking in the hot orange sun. She was going to make it just in time.  
"Fine," she grumbled. "Just a few minutes."  
Pacing impatiently back and forth across the wall she continually thought of the Groblin King alone his castle made her heart swoon. Was he thinking of her? Was he trying on his vast collection of spandex pants?  
Oh- and Dipper. She couldn't forget about Dipper.  
Something glinted against the sun. Mabel squinted at it in the fading daylight. It drifted closer to her, its curves sharpening and its crystalline exterior becoming more apparent. "A bubble?" Mabel said to herself. She looked at it again, slowly moving towards the edge of the wall. "A bubble!" Mabel repeated, this time with a vigor to her voice. "It must be from King Hunky Bubbles!"  
She chased after it, desperately grasping for it. This had to be the end of her quest. If the Groblin King had sent her a bubble, then she had to accept the gift. It could be her ticket into the castle. Or maybe he had left a secret love note inside. Or maybe it was just full of glitter.  
Mabel rushed past Staggle, leaping over him where he sat with a bound of energy. It was centimeters away from her finger tips. She could even feel the cool exterior radiate towards her. Something inside it shimmered and melted into swirls of color. It was for her, she just knew it was.  
Staggle looked over his shoulder, jaw dropping at the sight of Mabel taking another frantic lunge at the bubble. He jumped to his feet. "Kid, leave that alone! The Groblin King is dangerous. You can't trust him."  
Mabel jumped, this time almost catching the bubble. "But the bubble has to be my prize!" she called back. "And it's so shiny!" Her breath puffed unsteadily out of her mouth as she continued to run, seeing the end of the wall only a few feet away. Her thirteen hours weren't up, which meant the Groblin King had to fulfill his promise.  
Reaching, her fingers wrapped around the bubble's glassy exterior. It felt as if it was made of flawless crystal, carved to meet the curve of her hand, but still light as a feather. Inside it was like looking at a snow globe—she was known for breaking snow globes in the Mystery Shack gift shop all the time. The scene inside bustled, dancing and brimming with a magical life.  
Cupping the bubble in her hand, Mabel began to feel tired and bleary eyed. She stumbled around the ledge of the wall. Everything around her began to blur into a mess of colors, and not in the good way.  
"Mabel!" She heard Staggle shout, his blurry figure rushing towards her. "Darn you, Groblin King!"  
"Everything is dancing," she muttered to herself. The glass bubble tingled against her fingers as it popped and fizzled out.  
And as the world fell down—so did she.

Opening her eyes, Mabel found herself leaning against a smooth glass wall. Her fingers trailed against the scratchy surface of her glittery tulle dress. Spinning around in a panic, she stared at her reflection in the glass. Her brown hair was done up in curls with little white flowers spun in. The white puffy sleeves on her dress would have made the 80's proud, and the bodice was covered in a delicate pattern of sequins and gems.  
Behind her the ballroom swayed to the ballad that hummed throughout. The guests tilted their hats or waved their fans to her as they passed. They covered their faces with porcelain masks of birds and fish and... well she wasn't sure what that animal was supposed to be. Maybe a raccoon/octopus combination. She pushed through the masses of party-goers and past the tables brimming with cake, cookies, and a treat of her own creation called "survival of the fittest", which involved dunking animal crackers in melted licorice until only one remained.  
It wasn't the best party she had even been to. There was that one time Candy and Grenda came over and—well, they promised to keep it a secret. But to say the least she was still finding dried spaghetti bits and burnt matches in odd places throughout the house.  
This was making up to be a close second until she spotted him. King Hunky Bubbles smiled at her from across the room. A furry white cape hung over his shoulders adding a nice touch to his otherwise plain white suit. He looked as if he were made of porcelain and fine china. His wink was inviting, enough to make her heart start pounding in her chest. Now this party was getting somewhere.  
Mabel barged through the room, knocking over anyone and anything that got in her way, which left a lot of dancers on the floor and a few tables lying on their sides. The Groblin King gave her a warm grin as she approached, "My dear, Mabel, what do you have to say about your gift?"  
She looked around at the hanging ivory tapestries and the severe lack of disco balls. She also wished there was more karaoke, but she was going to have to make do. "I say, yes! I will marry you, King Hunky Bubbles!"  
The King raised a drawn-on eyebrow, "Huh?"  
Mabel jumped onto an empty chair, taking control of the party. She gestured at the different guests, who were still trying to recover from her dramatic entrance. "You there," she pointed at a woman in a swan mask who was brushing cake off of her dress. "We're going to need thirty yards of pink yarn, a llama, and a cd with every song ever performed by 'The Meteorologist Ladies'."  
Taking a sharp turn she pointed at the guest with the raccoon/octopus mask, "And you! Are you an ordained minister?" The guest pointed to himself and shook his head nervously. "Well then, find a computer and get online. In the meantime, I think I have that reverend costume somewhere in my closet..." Raccoon/octopus skittered away into the crowd.  
"Mabel, what are you doing?" King Hunky Bubbles asked.  
"I'm planning our wedding, you silly twinkle-man. I know you probably put a lot of time and effort into planning this, but it's just not my style. I'm more of a non-traditional, fireworks and petting zoo type of bride." She gave little jazz hands as her expression of excitement. "And obviously you're going to let Dipper go so he can attend. I can't not invite my brother to my own wedding."  
King Hunky Bubbles cleared his throat and loosened the collar of his shirt from around his neck. "You think we're getting married?"  
"Duh," Mabel said. She stepped closer to him, gesturing to herself. "Why else would you invite all these people over and give me this totally dream-tastic dress?"  
"You can't be serious."  
"Of course I am!" Lurching forward, she wrapped her whole body around his calf, dress bunching up around her. "You and I are going to be together forever."  
"Forever?" There was a quiver to the Groblin King's voice.  
"Oh yeah. Just an eternity of you and me and my collection of shareable gum. But forever isn’t too long I guess…"  
At that, King Hunky Bubbles tried to pry his leg out of Mabel's clutches, desperately grabbing on to table legs and the arms of the party-goers. Yet she clung to him, full of determination and pure obsession.  
The King reached down and forcefully unlatched Mabel's fingers from his velvety pants, and pushed her off. "Enough," he shouted, tossing his arms out to his sides and bringing the bustling party to a halt. He took a deep breath, fixed his white hair, and spoke. "This is not the way I expected my plan to go! You're much... weirder, than I thought you would be."  
Mabel looked up, mouth drooping and brown eyes misty. "What do you mean?"  
"I mean that this is a trick. I was going to trap you here and we would dance momentarily and that would be it. At first I thought a magic fruit would do the trick, but it occurred to me that you probably consume hallucinogenic substances on a daily basis. So I used the bubble instead."  
Mabel felt her hands curl into fists, trying to contain the frustrated tremble in her arms. "It doesn't matter what I may or may not consume. You're still a meanie-butt face! You used that bubble to trick me when I all I did was try to complete your maze like you asked. Why are you even doing this?"  
The King opened his mouth, about to speak, but then becoming dumb-struck. "I-I'm not really sure. Maybe it had to do with my desire for control over my life... or the fact that I still live in the castle with my parents."  
Usually, Mabel was willing to trust the Groblin King, and listen to all of his bottled-up feelings. Maybe his parental issues really were bothering him? But she was done doing it the Mabel way. She was tired and heartbroken. She was ready to go home. So instead, she decided to just do it the easy way.  
Grabbing a chair by its back, Mabel began to drag it across the floor, a low scratching sound following her as she ran. The party guests dodged out of her way, avoiding her path. Facing the crystal wall, she gripped the chair in both her hands and raised it over her head.  
"Please, Mabel!" King Hunky Bubbles yelled out to her from beyond the mounds of animal masks and ball gowns. "All I ask is that you love me, do what I say; and I will be yours! I have given you everything you ever wanted. We can braid hair and bezazzle our clothes."  
"You have no power over me, King Hunky Bubbles. I'm breaking up with you!"  
Mabel took the chair and flung it into the walls of the bubble, causing it to shatter and burst around her. The party-guests screamed as their world slowly crumbled into shards of glass and powder. The tables collapsed, white linens and china tea cups falling slowly beside. The scenery faded from white to black. King Hunky Bubbles yelled her name once more, just as he turned into a bubble, leaving nothing behind but the fuzzy white cape and a pile of purple glitter.  
Tiny bubbles popped around her as Mabel watched the whole party disintegrate around her. Her beautiful dress was gone and again replaced by her sweater and skirt—which was shame. She really liked that dress.  
She fell and fell until finally gently landing in a junkyard, which itself was a little odd. How did she even leave the maze? This world was proving to not make a lot of sense. And it could have at least been nice enough to drop in, say, a field of wild ponies or even at the front gate of the castle. She stood up, pushing back broken chair legs and smashed plates, the sound of them crunching beneath her feet as she walked.  
"Mabel, there you are," Staggle shouted, climbing over the piles of rubble to reach her. He extended a hand, guiding her up and over the mounds within the junkyard. "What happened? Did you see the Groblin King? Did he hurt you?"  
For a moment Mabel was silent, but then she laughed, gripping a little harder to Staggle's hand. As much as he would deny it, that grumpy old puppet really did care. "No. I'm okay. But I think I may have destroyed King Hunky Bubbles. If not physically then at least emotionally." Reaching the end of the junkyard, she leaned back on her feet and gently slid down an old, beat up door down to where the dirt met the dull green grass of the castle courtyard.  
"Wait," Staggle replied, taking a few steps into the grass, "if you destroyed the Groblin King, why don't you just go home?"  
Mabel looked out at the stone castle, as the pitch black sky descended over it, and sighed. She had spent all day trying to make it to the castle. And now that she had finally made it, she didn't even want it anymore. King Hunky Bubbles had been tricking her the whole time. Her feet were aching and her sweater was torn in one sleeve and dirty all over. She didn't care about what type of sequined glory was in his closets. But now she had more reason to go in than ever.  
"I can't," she muttered, rubbing at the torn arm of her sweater. "I have to go save Dipper. I should have been more focused on him in the first place."  
Staggle nodded with an approving grunt. "Come on, then. Let's go get your brother." He waddled over the grass to the front doors of the castle.  
"I need to go alone," she blurted out.  
Staggle stopped in his tracks and spun around to face her. "Why would you say a stupid thing like that?"  
"Because that's how it's done. And," she checked the items off her fingers, "Dipper's also got this fear of puppets he's been trying to deny, so you might freak him out even more. No offense, but your face is kinda wrinkly and made of nightmares."  
"None taken."  
"Plus there's a whole treasure room full of gold somewhere. And someone's got to pillage it."  
Rubbing his hands together manically, Staggle chuckled. "Oh yeah. I look forward to that." When he looked up, Mabel had her arms stretched out to her sides, a happy little smile on her blushing face. "If you're wanting a hug, kid, you're in the wrong place." She frowned, her arms flopping back down to her sides. Feeling a rare twinge of sympathy, Staggle waved it off and grinned. "Aww what the heck. Come here, you nasty little groblin."  
Giddily, Mabel jumped into Staggle's warm puppet-y embrace, bumping the fez off of his head. "Thanks for everything, Staggle."  
"Hehe. You're a good kid, Mabel."  
"Is this the part where you say that any time I miss you we can have dance parties in my bedroom?"  
Staggle pushed himself out of Mabel's hug. "Whelp. This just got creepy. Go save your brother or something."  
Mabel gave one last wave before pouncing for the front door, grappling hook in hand. With her new mission in mind, she launched the grappling hook into the air and onto the latch of the highest window. She could already imagine the look on Dipper's face when she came to save him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Anyone else want some?" Dipper pounded his fist into the face of another groblin, sweat and dirt trailing down the side of his face. It certainly was not to look of relief Mabel expected to see when she finally made it into the castle. Honestly, she was kind of hoping that he would look more afraid, just so that she could tease him about it later.  
Perhaps if she had gotten there sooner, she might have been able to make fun of her brother. But there were so many different rooms and for a while she had gotten lost on this weird stair case that went on the sides of walls and upside down. The disrupted gravity was pretty cool and if she hadn't been in a rush she would have considered having a musical number there.  
But now she was watching Dipper pick up another groblin by the nape of its neck and drop kick it into the hoard of other groblins. He panted, his whole frame trembling with rage and fear. "Keep away from me and my sister, you velveteen monsters!" The groblins huddled together in the corner, their tiny bodies shaking. They were actually afraid of him , skinny limbs and all.  
"Uhh, Dipper?" Mabel said.  
His eyes were blank when he turned around. Gradually, his hands steadied at his side and he let out one deep breath. "Mabel? I thought the Groblin King trapped you inside one of his bubbles?"  
"I thought you were being tortured by the groblins... oh let's face it. They're too cute for torture. Look at their little puppet faces." She took a step towards them, but drew back as they hissed and clawed at her. "Uhh... nevermind."  
Dipper shook his head and took a few steps towards his twin. Up close she could see the grime under his finger nails and the bruise on his upper arm. "Listen, Mabel. I'm sorry. I should have just been honest with you about being afraid of the puppets. None of this would have ever happened if I didn't make you upset."  
She smiled faintly, rubbing at her now aching shoulder from grappling hook over-use. "Yeah well, you're not the only one to blame. I ignored you a lot while going through the maze. I was too obsessed with King Hunky Bubbles to consider the fact that you might be feeling scared and alone."  
"Thanks, Mabel." Dipper gave her an awkward grin and nudged her arm with his elbow. "Are you ready to get out of here? This place really weirds me out."  
Mabel laughed, albeit half-heartedly. "Absolutely. I've had enough magic bubbles for one lifetime."  
"And I never want to see another puppet again."  
Mabel hooked her arm through Dipper's and the twins made their way through the ever winding halls of the Groblin King's castle. Night time had just melted over the sky and the stars were winking at them through the windows. Dipper looked around at the scenery, knitting his eyebrows and pursing his lips.  
"Hey, Mabel?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you have any idea how to actually get home?"  
She stopped, brown eyes widening. "Oh no." 

The End.

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[King Hunky Bubbles moved on to pursue his dreams of becoming a musician, writing popular songs like ‘Spaceman’ and ‘Let’s Stand Perfectly Still’.]


End file.
